1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to digital interfaces and, more particularly, to efficient digital interfaces useful in wireless communication devices.
2. Related Art
The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
Various communication and computer systems transfer digital data between modules. Wireless communication devices for example typically include a baseband circuit and a radio frequency (RF) circuit that communicate with each other during a transmit operation and/or a receive operation. During a transmit operation of the wireless device, the baseband circuit processes signals prior to the RF circuit modulating (i.e., shifting) the signals to a higher frequency for transmission. During a receive operation of the wireless device, the RF circuit demodulates a received signal prior to processing by the baseband circuit.
The baseband circuit and the RF circuit communicate via a digital interface. The digital interface generally provides a bandwidth enabling robust data transmissions for current cellular standards. In order to meet the increasing demand of data transmission rates, next generation cellular standards for example will require much higher bit rates (e.g. five times current bandwidths). One alternative to meet the demand for increased bandwidth would be to significantly increase the number of pins and transmission lines across the digital interface.